Baptist Beliefs: The Bible

The Baptists emerged out of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that sought to give the Bible a greater role than that of tradition.

The practice of believer’s baptism is an example of this. While the earliest Christians practiced believer’s baptism, very quickly infant baptism became the accepted custom. This may have been out of fear that infants who died without being baptized would be damned.

The tradition for infant baptism was strong but the Bible pointed toward believer’s baptism and that is what they embraced. Tradition is not ignored, but the Bible has priority.

Baptists have typically avoided specific statements of faith. That is not to say that there are no Baptist creeds but there has been attempt to hold to “no creed but the Bible.”

This does not mean anything goes. Baptists have held to the historic faith in all of the major doctrines.

At the same time, there has been freedom to study the Bible as guided by the Spirit and as read within Christian community. This sometimes (often?) leads to different interpretations.

This can be messy and perhaps is why there are so many different Baptist groups. Those who interpret in a similar way tend to be drawn to each other.

The point is that we as Baptists rely upon the Word of God and are encouraged to study it prayerfully and humbly.